I was a little unsure but with temperatures again above normal I wanted to ride. I landed heavily on my side yesterday but it isn't actually my shoulder that was injured, it is my upper chest, as if I jammed the whole thing over. I set out and discovered that I was indeed tender but that there wasn't any real pain.
I wanted to ride because I am entering rare air in both number of rides and total mileage ridden. I would really like to get a few more rides in and this late in the season doesn't seem like a good time to pass on a rideable day. The weather forecast is for drizzle developing overnight which means that tomorrow is likely to be wet. As we all know, cold is one thing, cold and wet is two things. Saturday we have early hockey. That means likely two of the next three days off anyway, I decided that today I wanted to ride.
Yesterday I did not encounter another bicyclist until about mile 8. After that I saw quite a few others. Today I met my first bicyclist at about mile 17 and saw not a single additional rider, not even children riding in the driveway. My take is that yesterday people looked out the window and saw sunshine and decided that it was warm enough for a bike ride. Once they got out there they discovered that it was COLD. Those same people looked out the window today and stayed inside. It was a nearly private ride.
The sun is very low in the sky producing very unusual shadows. This is the scene in my driveway at just very shortly after noon, sun as high in the sky as it is going to get.
Shadows stretching all the way across the cul de sac.A cold, clear November day once again producing spectacular scenery. Here is a tree I have ridden past a couple of times recently but today I stopped to get the still golden tree top backed by the cerulean blue sky.
That tree is about a block away from where I took the picture. I had to backtrack and ride around the block to try to get a proper identification. As usual, keeping in mind the caveat trees not my field, I am confident that it is a willow.Nice blue sky, eh?
I rode out to Vadnais with the idea of getting a photo of my tire tracks at the scene of the accident. I got the picture but it is insufficiently dramatic so I won't post it. I did discover that those ducks are mostly still there but they have divided up into two groups, one of which was quite close to shore down by the parking area.
I felt OK I guess but the absolute truth is that after I left Vadnais I again today followed the path blazed yesterday of minimum hills. My shoulder is tender.Today's mileage milestone is that I have ridden more miles in November than I rode in October. This has never happened before. As with yesterday's record number of miles for the month, this accomplishment in and of itself is not that startling considering what I had to overcome to do it. What is a little startling is that these monthly totals are being achieved on the 17th and 18th of the month.
This evening in Paris Ireland defeated France 1-0 in World Cup Qualifying. The result meant that each team won one of the two head to head games, each scored one goal, and each scored an away from home goal. As a result the game went to overtime at Stade de France. In what the BBC characterized as an absolute robbery, France scored the decisive goal off a pass following a clear hand ball. The game is over, there is no appeal, France advances to the World Cup.
I was watching the game on a "tubes" stream. Webstreaming is a little hit and miss. I had the video all right but the audio was in Japanese. I watched the video and when things looked darkest for France the camera kept finding the sitting together heroes of France's 1998 World Cup championship, Zinedine Zidane and Fabien Barthez.
Allez les Bleus!
2 comments:
Nice photos. I'd say willow is correct.
The odd light is one of the things that makes fall riding so memorable. The sun isn't done going south, so the dramatic lighting will continue. Aren't you glad you retired so you could experience November biking?
Good to hear you're okay-ish.
The Irish were definitely robbed but, as you say, the game is over and there is no appeal. I'm happy for France anyway.
Lovely shadows across the driveway - that's a really nice shot.
Good luck with the injuries. I feel like a lot of Ibu may be in your future.
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